Archive 32: A time to search, a time to give up.

To no one's surprise, Duke Helio ended up not coming down for breakfast.

Esmeralda thanked her son nonetheless for making the effort for trying. She made the resolution that she'd speak with her husband about it. There were other things that needed to be discussed anyway.

She knew that he'd probably received a report on what happened from Eurydice by now and she couldn't help being annoyed with his efficiency.

After breakfast, she changed into her regular clothes which consisted of a white ribbed blouse that went up her neck, a navy blue vest that had red floral designs on the shoulder, collar and hems of the vest. A beautiful broach was attached to her right side and she paired the whole assemble with white pants and her favourite black boots.

Her long periwinkle hair was pulled back into a high chignon, leaving the framing pieces out of the updo, which made her already small visage even smaller.

She looked stunning as always in her getup but more importantly felt comfortable.

She hated more than anything having to wear a dress all day and felt relief when she could throw on a pair of pants.

She didn't waste anytime and went straight to her husband's office where she knew he was since he was a workaholic who knew nothing but work. Even after coming from a long trip, he probably refused to rest.

She made the decisive decision to get everything out of the open and make him listen.

In the meantime,

Alastor was in the training room, receiving another lesson from Selphyn. Today was the day where she would be teaching him how to bring out energy and envelope it over a weapon. You can envelop energy on almost anything as long as it's a weapon you could use in combat.

"Like I mentioned before, there are quite a few warriors that use their fists instead of man made weapons. Typically, these types of fighters are enhancers. They enhance their fists to make it stronger and sturdier."

"That makes sense considering how fragile a human fist is."

"Right. Their fists will be enveloped in their energy allowing them to use their hands consecutively without worrying about harming their hands. Of course, there are limits for everyone, but someone with high enough energy could last at least three hours in a fight. They are human after all."

Magnus nodded his head in agreement. He had never really been familiar with the concept of fighting without a weapon. Not all angels were fighters, but a good majority were able to fight to a certain extent.

As far as Magnus was concerned, he had always fought with a weapon just like any other combat angel. He was curious to see how a fight with fists would work. Wouldn't it just be considered boxing as the humans in the human realm would call it?

Seeing the look of curiosity plastered on the young boy's face, Selphyn couldn't help but smile. Out of all the things he could be curious about, fighting with hands was one she didn't expect.

"Alright let's get started then. You should start by closing your eyes and bringing out the energy from your core out to the surface." While saying this, she went to go get a wooden sword.

Magnus did as he was told and slowed his breathing. He concentrated on bringing out his energy slowly. The only thing he saw when shutting his eyes was darkness. The kind of darkness anyone would see when they close their eyes, but not long after that, the darkness he once came face to face with started to shine slightly. He could see little sparks of light starting to appear, and those sparks of light started to take shape. The circle of lights growed bigger and bigger until his entire vision was filled with blue light.

From the outside, Selphyn could see light forming all around Alastor's body. The light grew bigger and more opaque. Her eyes widened.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

....

Back in the house, Esmeralda knocked on the doors of Helio's office softly. She was met with silence before she heard Helio's deep voice telling her to come in.

She opened the door and was surprised to see he was not alone. Standing by his side was Eurydice who was one of the Caesrus informants alongside his twin sister Killian.

She hasn't seen Eurydice in quite some time and was delighted to see him.

"Eury! I didn't know you were back. How are you?" She smiled brightly.

"Lady Esme! It's been awhile. I just got back a few minutes ago. I was going to go see you after my meeting with Helio." He said returning her smile.

Both Esmeralda and Eurydice had known each other since they were infants. They grew up together and ended up going to the same academy as children. Since Eurydice was also part of a House, they were bound to come across each other in social gatherings and the like.

Since they became such good friends, their parents actually thought of joining the families together when they got older, but things didn't go as planned. They grew a little distant since they had different paths to take, but that didn't mean they stopped being friends. They talked to each other whenever they had the chance.

Esmeralda still considered Eurydice to be a close friend and cared for him deeply. She wasn't sure if he felt the same way about her. She had always hoped that he did considering how hard it was to tell what Eurydice was thinking. He was an enigma, on minute being easy to read, and the next minute becoming an impenetrable wall that could not be moved nor broken down.

"I'm glad you're doing well." She said. A hint of longing could be heard in her voice which didn't go unnoticed to Helio

As Eurydice was about to reply, Helio quickly cut him off.

"Is there a reason you came here?" He asked abruptly. This resulted in Eurydice giving him a side glance as well as startling Esmeralda.

She quickly composed herself not even thinking twice about his attitude towards her since she was used to it and got straight to the point.

"Right. There was something I wanted to discuss with you concerning Alastor. I made sure to warn Pollux not to say anything concerning the situation because I wanted to inform you myself. But knowing you, you've probably been briefed about the situation already." She said while giving Eurydice a side glance to which he shrugged his shoulders innocently.

She paused, looking at her husband who seemed to be indifferent about the whole ordeal and sighed to herself.

Stay strong, she reminded herself.

"I still think we should talk about how to proceed from here." She finished making sure to sound resolute, leaving any room for negotiation.

Helio was silent for a moment before sighing. He massaged his temples and finally looked up at her, looking her in the eyes for the first time since she'd arrived.

Since she had gotten what she wanted and didn't want to disturb their work any longer she gave Eurydice a quick smile not even sparing the man in question a look before living the room.

There was silence in the room for awhile before Eurydice cleared his throat.

"Don't." Helio quickly said.

"I wasn't going to say anything….. but it wasn't what it looked like. Esmeralda simply cares for me as a friend. That's all." He said reassuring him.

"I don't need you telling me this."

"Just wanted to clear any misunderstandings."

"What— huh never mind. Get back to your reports please. The sooner you do the quicker you'll be out of my sight."

Eurydice could only sigh in frustration. His boss really wasn't an honest person. Acting jealous over his wife when he can barely keep a conversation with her.

Helio had amazing qualities, he was one of the strongest people in Bellyon. Probably even outside of Bellyon and yet he was the biggest coward when it came to things like this.

I give up. Eury thought to himself.